Poem: Tamir Rice

By Sean Thomas Dougherty

May 24, 2018

See the title and brace for heartbreak. See the title and brace for transformational beauty. The speaker, too, is trying to see the title, the name, the answer to the question the daughter asks. You are witness to an intimate scene between parents and their child. Or you are there with the child climbing into your lap. The silence is as tender as the chewed petals of a flower, a wreath. There are no words for the haunting final sentence. Selected by Terrance Hayes

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Terrance Hayes is the author of five collections of poetry, including “Lighthead,” winner of the 2010 National Book Award. His sixth collection, “American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin,” will be out in June from Penguin. Sean Thomas Dougherty is the author of 10 books, including, most recently, the poetry collection “The Second O of Sorrow,” published by BOA Editions last month.

Illustration by R.O. Blechman

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